‘I want to reach more people,’ the American designer Willy Chavarria told Wallpaper* in July of last year, having moved his runway shows from New York to Paris. ‘It’s about having a global message – a message of humanity that’s about people in all countries.’
A new collaboration with Zara, released today (26 March 2026 – shop the looks below), brings his message to an even wider audience. Comprising menswear and womenswear, as well as bags, shoes and accessories, the expansive collection is rooted in Chavarria’s distinctive aesthetic – one which draws on the dress codes of America’s immigrant communities, his Mexican-American upbringing in Fresno, California, and the street style of New York, Chavarria’s adopted home city.
Willy Chavarria’s collaboration with Zara is here
‘My team and I approach every collection from a point of view of reacting to the political climate. The conversation is always: How does the world feel? What’s happening? How should we respond to it?’ he previously told Wallpaper*. ‘We’re still so stuck in the old guard of fashion – these people have been doing it for so long that they can’t see outside of their sphere.’
The Zara collection, which is the latest in a long line of high-profile collaborations that the Spanish fashion behemoth has undertaken in recent years, is titled ‘Vatísimo’, and mines similar themes. Taken from a colloquial expression used within the Chicano community, it is the superlative of ‘vato’, which means ‘friends, partners, homies, and loved ones’, as Chavarria explains. ‘[It’s about] friendship, camaraderie, and love; it speaks to personal bonds, the pride of belonging to a community, and the power of roots.’
A greatest hits of sorts, the collection returns to Chavarria’s perennial influences – namely sports- and workwear, as well as 1950s-inflected tailoring – reimagined in abundant silhouettes and with romantic flourishes (an embroidered rose motif features throughout). For men, there is roomy, double-breasted tailoring, sized-up work shirts in fluid cupro, along riffs on sportier attire – from hoodies to polo-shirts, oversized T-shirts and boxer shorts (memorably, Chavarria introduced an underwear line, ‘Dirty Willy Underwear’, where pieces had the appearance of being ‘worn in’).
For women, pussy-bow shirts are adorned with bold floral motifs, while denim and tailoring echo the men’s collection’s use of volume. A series of 1980s-style jewellery, as well as bandanas, slouchy leather handbags and clogs, sit alongside.
The launch is accompanied by a campaign film directed by Glen Luchford and Chavarria, in which Christy Turlington and Alberto Guerra star in a telenovela-style short, ‘unfolding a fatal love quadrangle shaped by power, jealousy, and desire’ featuring a cameo from Chavarria himself.
Willy Chavarria for Zara is available now at zara.com and selected stores.
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